Probably won’t blog tomorrow, what with 20 family members—and 8 dogs—arriving today and T.Day at Grey Meadow Farm in VT. Much as I love London, especially decked out for Christmas, it’ll be fantastic to get Home after three weeks on the road. Though I must say that I do appreciate the genuine hospitality and graciousness I’m met with all around the world … and of course throughout the U.S.A. I fully acknowledge cultural differences, at home as well as far away; on the other hand, I’ve long observed that people react pretty much the same way everywhere if you are curious, courteous, attentive and fully engaged.
That last little bit reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, from Harvard prof Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot’s marvelous book Respect:
“It was much later that I realized Dad’s secret. He gained respect by giving it. He talked and listened to a fourth-grade kid in Spring Valley who shined shoes the same way he talked and listened to a bishop or a college president. He was seriously interested in who you were and what you had to say.”
A great Thanksgiving message, eh?